


Seeing Past the Flaws

by radlovejoy



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, F/M, M/M, Medium!Jenna, Multi, Pining, Salamander!rich, Technopath!squip, This will vaguely follow the canon events, amplifier!mr. Heere, dryad!brooke, fae!michael, psychic!jeremy, selkie!jake, shapeshifter!christine, siren!chloe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-18 03:00:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11865261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radlovejoy/pseuds/radlovejoy
Summary: Jeremy Heere isn't the best psychic in the world. In fact, most would say he's terrible at using his powers; he wouldn't disagree. When a new student takes interest in him and offers to help him master his powers, Jeremy is estatic. But that feeling doesn't last for long.





	1. Chapter 1

He took a faltering step forward, reaching out. He couldn't see exactly who it was, but there was a figure standing in front of him. They were facing him, but he could barely see their features. He somehow knew that they were going to talk, but right before Jeremy heard anything, he became weightless, plunging down to the ground. 

Jeremy gasped in a breath, blinking his eyes against the weak light filtering through the blinds. His heart was racing, threatening to jump out of his chest. He moved hand to his dresser, blindly searching for the cheap fifty cent journal sitting on top of it. 

It was orange with white polka dots on the cover, and there was some residue of glitter that he couldn't figure out how to get off. He supposed buying the shitty journal was his fault- since he had taken the first notebook he found in the clearance section- but he still felt a pang of disgust when he saw it. Orange was a gross color. He grabbed the pencil he had in the wrungs, writing down all that he could remember about his dream. He had learned to do this years ago, in case his dreams were possible visions of the future. 

It wasn't easy being the son of a psychic. He had retained his mother's powers and occasionally they worked, but mastering them was in progress. It would've been so much easier if his mom hadn't left. He had to blindly try to understand his power, and although his dad attempted to help, it was difficult. He was intermittently overtaken by incoherent visions that didn't make sense. He often saw specific numbers or colors; if they were repeated enough he jotted it down in his journal to try and vaguely understand it. He still wasn't exactly sure of the extent of his powers. 

He knew his visions weren't always true. He saw glimpses of specific futures that could only happen if certain events occurred. He wasn't sure about his dream, though. It didn't feel the same as a vision, but it still felt important. 

Jeremy yawned, sliding out of bed after he stretched. He considered going to his computer to relieve some leftover stress from the dream, but decided against it after glancing at his clock. He stumbled into the bathroom, rubbing his eyes. He washed his face, trying to make his brain catch up with his body. He heard a knock on the door. 

"Hello, Private!" His dad said, sounding cheerful but looking exhausted. 

"Hey, dad," Jeremy mumbled as he looked around for a towel to dry his face. 

As he did, his father spoke up again. "So, I was thinking. Tonight, we could try and work on your powers. I know that I can't really help much, but maybe we could figure out something? We could test and see if my amplification does anything to your powers. It did that with Jessica," He trailed off, looking down. He cleared his throat, "I was doing some research, and it said that it was helpful for young psychics to have something to tie their power to, like a crystal ball or tarot cards? So it would be controllable, and you could tap into it whenever you wanted, instead of it holding you hostage."

Jeremy had finally found a towel in a cupboard and dried off his face. He paused, then dropped the towel, "Uh, sure? I think I'd rather carry around cards than a glass ball."

"Alright, I'll try to get some when I get off of work. Good talk." Jeremy's dad left, rapping his knuckles against the door frame. 

Jeremy sighed, looking into the mirror. He surveyed the dark circles under his eyes. He always felt drained after a dream. He tiredly patted his cheeks in another attempt to wake himself up as he left the bathroom. After shrugging on clothes and eating breakfast, he brushed his teeth. As he was doing so, he received a text from Michael. 

FROM PLAYER 1:  
hey man! i was gonna stop by sev-elev, want me to pick u up?

TO PLAYER 1:  
Yeah I'm pretty much ready, when will you get here?

FROM PLAYER 1:  
*heere  
i'm leaving my house now so i'll be there in like ten minutes 

TO PLAYER 1:  
Cool

He pocketed his phone, put his toothbrush away, and headed to his room. On his way there, he saw his dad walking to the front door. With no pants on.

"Pants, dad!" He shouted as he continued walking to his room. He was exhausted and the day hadn't even begun. 

"What? Oh, thanks, son!" He heard behind him, and he gave his father a thumbs up. 

When he got into his room, he immediately collapsed into the bed, laying on his back. He stared up at the ceiling. It was covered with glow-in-the-dark stars, still weakly putting off light in the dim room. 

Jeremy smiled to himself. He had been fourteen when he bought them. He had felt awkward about putting stars in his room like a six year old, but he pushed past it and he enlisted Michael's help to put them up. He originally wanted to put them up in a way that was similar to the stars in the sky, but Michael had a different idea. 

Jeremy looked to the corner of his room closest to his bed. He could see the clear shape of a dick surrounded by a couple of stars that weren't in the pattern. Next to that was a weed leaf, and towards the middle of the room Michael had spelled out the word 'Fuck' with smaller stars interspersed between the letters to make it seem as though he was innocent. 

Jeremy sighed, playing with a loose thread on his blanket. He was calm. He was close to dozing off when the peace was shattered. A car suddenly honked its shrill horn for a solid five seconds. He jumped up and ran to the window. Michael was sitting in his car, grinning up at him. Jeremy frowned, turned from the window, grabbed his backpack and made his way out the door. As he slid into the car with Michael, he smiled slightly. He was enveloped by the music playing through the stereo, the bass a thumping pulse that showed the life of the car. 

"Hey, dude," Michael greeted, waiting until Jeremy buckled to start backing up. 

"Hey, how are you?" Jeremy asked as he lowered the volume of the radio. 

"I'm good. Are you ready to get some slush?" 

Jeremy snorted, "Totally."

There was a companionable silence between them for a few moments, before Jeremy spoke up again. 

"So, uh, my dad apparently did some research, and now I'm gonna get tarot cards to hopefully control my powers? And he wants to test to see if his amplification impacts them." 

Michael looked over quickly, "That's awesome, Jer! It's good your dad wants to help you with that."

"Yeah," Jeremy sighed, rubbing his thumb against the side seam of his jeans, "I mean, he did mention my mom this morning when we talked it."

"Really? That's progress, man!" Michael glanced over to see Jeremy's expression, "What?"

"I had to stop him from leaving the house with no pants on."

"Oh." Michael shrugged, "Still progress?"

Jeremy sighed, tapping his fingers against his legs. "Still progress," he repeated. It was quiet again, but not as comfortable as before. The slightly tense atmosphere dissipated when they arrived at the 7-Eleven. They both exited the car and paused at the doors. 

Michael clapped Jeremy on the shoulder, "I know that I'm not the psychic here, but I think you guys will figure everything out."

Jeremy leaned into the contact, "Thanks, Mikey." He followed him into the gas station and they went to the slurpee machine. They got their drinks and paid. They playfully bumped into each other as they walked out the doors. When they resettled into their seats, Michael turned to Jeremy, sipping his blue-raspberry slushie. 

"Did you know that slurpee's were invented 'cause a dude that worked at Dairy Queen had a shitty soda machine and had to partially freeze the drinks?"

"Well, I do now," Jeremy gulped his cherry slushie, then immediately regretted it. The ice first made his teeth feel both numb and frozen, then his head felt as though it was splitting in two. He gritted his teeth and raised a hand to his head as he squeezed his eyes shut. 

Michael eyed him, then started laughing as he groaned in pain, "What's wrong? A little bit of brain freeze won't kill you!"

"I beg to differ," Jeremy said through waves of pain. As he dealt with the brain freeze, Michael started the car. Jeremy buckled up, still feeling the effects of the ice– even if it was slowly fading. 

Michael turned the radio back on and was humming along to what was playing. He was tapping his fingers against the steering wheel to the beat. Jeremy smiled. It was nice to see his friend in his element, not worrying about anything, just letting music take the forefront of his mind. Michael's glasses were slipping down his nose, and he pushed them back up as he stopped at a red light. 

Jeremy leaned back in his seat. Michael had a love-hate relationship with his glasses. He was mostly just angry that of all the faerie powers he got, perfect vision wasn't one of them. Michael was gifted with amplified hearing, which constantly overwhelmed him. Because of that, he often wore headphones. His other physical powers was being super graceful and strong. 

Jeremy was slightly jealous. He tripped over thin air and his body was a twig that put some dryads to shame. Michael also never had to learn his powers, which was just the icing on the cake. Michael knew how to make deals and skirt around details without lying like a pro, while Jeremy could sometimes see possible futures and whatever else he still hadn't accidentally figured out. His mom was a pretty powerful psychic. She could see auras and the past along with the future. Jeremy was pretty sure she had other powers that she had hidden from him, but it didn't matter. She left as soon as she could when she saw a future without them. She didn't come back and clearly had no plans to. 

Jeremy sighed, sipping his cherry slushee as they approached the school. Michael took noticed and gave him a questioning look. 

"What's up?"

"I- uh, nothing? Everything's good. Great."

Michael's looked over at him, disbelievingly. 

"It's just! Um, you know, the whole powers thing is on my mind." Jeremy was tracing shapes in the cup's condensation, avoiding making eye contact with Michael. 

"You'll figure it out. It takes time, dude. Just because I've had both a parent guiding me and my powers since I was born doesn't make you less than. You're a badass psychic-in-training. You'll tell the future and master your powers and I'll be there for you every step of the way." Michael grinned at him and stopped the car after finding a parking spot. 

"Do you, uh. Do you promise?" Jeremy asked, a bit of uncertainty painting his voice. He usually didn't ask for promises from Michael. His fae blood occasionally got in the way of normal conversations, twisting them into deals without meaning to. When Michael inhaled quickly, Jeremy opened his mouth, "Never mind, it was stupid, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"

Michael cut him off. "I promise," He exhaled shakily, smiled, then said again, "I promise." This time, it was more confident. 

"Thank you," Jeremy paused, "You know, you're actually my favorite person." He looked down. His face suddenly felt hot- Actually, he was warm all over. When did that happen? 

Michael grinned, laughing a bit, "Am I really your favorite person? I feel honored, Jer-Bear."

"Jesus Christ, for once I try to be nice, and where does that get me?" Jeremy rolled his eyes, smiling up at his best friend. 

Michael chuckled, but his face soon schooled into a more serious expression, "For real, though, you're my favorite person, too. You're the best person I know."

"I, uh," Jermey cleared his throat. He was warm again, or did the feeling ever go away? His stomach felt odd. He blamed it on his slushie. "Um, same. I mean, you're, uh, also the best. Yeah."

Michael smiled, then shut off his car, "Ready to go?"

He would be willing go anywhere, as long as Michael was with him. Jeremy nodded, unbuckling. He got out of the car and grabbed his slushie. Michael did the same. He nudged him when they met up again in front of the car, brushing the back of his hand against Michael's. As they approached the school doors, his stress levels began to rise. He shifted his backpack and suddenly something was touching his wrist. He looked over to Michael, who's hand slowly retreated. He smiled, ducking his head as he moved closer so most of their arms were touching. 

Jeremy sighed, reveling in the steady heat his best friend provided. For some reason, Michael's warmth wasn't as terrifying as the one from earlier, in the car. When Jeremy brushed his hand against the other's again, Michael linked their pinkies. 

Jeremy immediately flushed and tried to hide his gasp of surprise in a cough. He glanced at Michael to see that he was already watching him. Jeremy swiveled back to the front, but before he did, he saw the pink decorating Michael's cheeks. Jeremy grinned and nudged him again. He noticed Michael smiling out of the corner of his eye. They entered the doors to meet a long and tiring day of school. 

No matter how draining the rest of the day was, Jeremy knew that he and Michael would be there for each other.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy meets a stranger at the mall?? Who are they??

When Jeremy entered the school at Michael's side, he reveled in how nothing seemed to change. The separate cliques and groups each had their respective hang out spots. From an outsider's perspective, they looked mildly terrifying. 

It was only him and Michael, and sometimes he wished that it wasn't just the two of them against the world. He loved the comfort and security that Michael brought with every interaction, but sometimes he felt on the edges of civilian life. Jeremy sighed and glanced down the hall. Right before the two had entered the school, they put some space between them. Michael put on his headphones and Jeremy tried to mentally prepare for the day. 

As they both walked, no one paid them any attention. Jeremy both enjoyed it and hated it. He didn't like to be in the spotlight, but he wanted to be a part of something. They stopped at Jeremy's locker. Michael needed to get his stuff and head to his first class, which was all the way across the school from where Jeremy's class was. They valued the morning, lunch, and passing period to talk to each other. When Jeremy started his combination, Michael flashed him a grin around the slushie straw still in his mouth. Jeremy could see his gently pointed gentry teeth and smirked at the teeth marks in his straw. 

"See you later, dude," Michael said and walked to his locker. 

"Bye," Jeremy replied, staring into the disorganized state of his locker. He was sure that he probably knew where everything was, but it was still an eyesore. Jeremy grabbed a couple textbooks and shut the door, going to his own class. There was about a minute before the first bell rang, so he walked slowly, sipping on the small amount of slush he had left. He noticed a brightly colored poster a little farther ahead in the hallway, and he approached it for something to do. He read it and blinked when he actually registered what it said. It was a sign-up sheet for the fall play. Acting was something that Jeremy found interesting, but didn't like to share with others. Maybe that could change. He looked at the signatures; there was only one name listed. Christine Canigula. 

Jeremy sighed. Christine. He thought she was super cool and an amazing actress. He had went to see the play last year and her performance as Juliet had been breathtaking. Christine was a shapeshifter, and it was so interesting to see her change her appearance if she played very specific roles. 

Jeremy meandered into his class. He settled heavily on his seat and looked blankly at the whiteboard. When class started, he listened and stared at the paper in front of him. He still felt tired. Somehow, class passed quickly, as did most of the other periods. It was time for lunch. 

Lunch could strike fear into the hearts of the strong. Since he was himself– a weakling, the idea of finding a seat for lunch was a sad and terrifying concept. Usually, he and Michael left the school and picked something up to eat. If they stayed at the school, they got their lunch and found a quiet, empty hallway to sit in. He hoped they were going to stop somewhere. He stopped walking in the hall a little bit outside the cafeteria, out of the way of others. Jeremy brought out his phone and called Michael. 

"Hey!" Jeremy said when Michael answered. 

"Suh, dude," said Michael. It sounded like he was walking. 

"Are we going to get food today somewhere else or will we get the served-daily lukewarm dose of poison?"

Michael snorted, "We can stop somewhere. Want to meet at my car?"

"Sure. See you," Jeremy hung up after Michael said his farewell, pushing off of the wall. He made his way to the parking lot, accidentally bumping into a group of gossiping girls. 

"Sorry," he yelped, backing away as he unintentionally made physical contact. One of them smiled sweetly, while the others glared. Jeremy gulped and backed away a few more steps. 

"It's okay," she said kindly. She looked nice and down to earth. She had blonde hair and pretty eyes and Jeremy's face was slowly getting red. 

"I'm still sorry, I, uh, should've been watching where I was going…" he trailed off, leaving a space for her to fill in her name. She looked familiar, but Jeremy didn't really interact with others much, so he was pretty rusty with people's names. 

"Brooke!" She laughed to herself a bit. "My name's Brooke, but I'm a dryad because my parents have a terrible sense of humor. What about you?"

"Um, I'm Jeremy? I don't really have a funny thing with my name. I am just- I'm just Jeremy the shitty psychic." He scratched the back of his head and looked down. 

"Really?" Brooke asked, "Do you think you can tell my future?" She seemed enthralled by the idea. 

"Uh- no. I mean, I'm not that good and I can't see much," he said. 

He heard a voice near him mutter, "…He's totally getting off on this…" This was met by giggles and Jeremy flushed. 

"Do you think you could try, though?"

Jeremy's attention snapped back to Brooke. "Um, maybe sometime? I gotta meet up with a friend actually, so I'll have to take a raincheck, Brooke the dryad." He shot finger guns and slowly walked backward. 

"Bye, Jeremy the shitty psychic." She waved a hand and turned back to her friends. Jeremy walked towards where Michael had parked his car that morning. When he caught sight of Michael, he smiled. It sucked that they didn't have a lot of classes together, but seeing him after a large period of time going without made the wait worth it. Michael was already in the car, so Jeremy slid in the passenger seat.

"Where are we going?" He asked, buckling. 

Michael hummed and started driving, "We should stop by, uh, fuckin'…" he hesitated, drumming his hands on the steering wheel. After a little while, he sighed, "I don't know. What do you want? I kinda want sushi but I'm not entirely sure."

"Isn't there a good sushi place in the mall? We have," he checked his phone, "over an hour, if we skip study hall, so we could stop there."

Michael nodded, flicking on the radio. He drove to the mall. Michael was singing along softly, and Jeremy listened attentively. He loved hearing Michael sing. His talking voice was already awesome, so it was amazing to hear him sing. He smiled up at his friend. The other glanced at him, and caught him staring. Jeremy blushed and looked down at his hands. 

When they made it to the mall, they looked around for the sushi place. Jeremy didn't find it immediately, but he did find something better. He found a place that sold chili fries. He bought some and found a table. He set down his fries while Michael located his sushi. Jeremy fiddled around on his phone as he waited for him to return, snacking on a few of his fries. When Michael returned with his food, they chatted a little as they ate, talking about nothing and almost everything at once. After a while, though, they fell into silence. Michael started fidgeting with his headphones. 

"You can, uh, put those on," he said stiltedly.

"No, no it's fine, I'm all good," he reassured, moving his hand to play a beat against the table. Jeremy shrugged and finished his fries. Michael knew his own limits and what he needed. He sighed and leaned back in his chair. Michael was pretty much finished with his food as well. Jeremy checked the time. They had to be back to the school in a half hour. 

"Hey dude, want to head out?" Jeremy asked, grabbing the empty fry container. Michael nodded and they threw away their trash. On their way out, though, they saw someone enter through the automatic doors, almost storming to an electronics store. They were wearing a trench coat that flew out behind their form, flicking aggressively. 

Michael saw them too and shared a glance with Jeremy, "Did you see that outfit? That was severe, man. I felt threatened by that fuckin' coat."

"Same," Jeremy frowned. "They somehow seemed familiar?"

Michael snorted, "I guarantee you've never seen them before. You may be thinking of some video game character." Jeremy shrugged, frowning at where the stranger disappeared into the store behind them.

"Unless," Michael began, "you saw them in a vision that you don't remember? Or something?"

Jeremy shrugged again and turned towards the exit, "We should probably go. Don't want to be late for school, you know?" Jeremy just didn't want to think about if the trench coat person was someone who he had visions about. Or if it was someone he knew. He wanted to get control of his powers, but he really didn't want to confront strangers about them. He couldn't just ask if they were in his dreams, because that was actually super fucking weird. 

Jeremy sighed and followed Michael outside. They got into the car and Michael backed up after they were buckled. Jeremy turned on the radio and looked out of the window. He thoughtlessly gazed at the scenery around him, then he remembered something.

"Hey, Michael?"

"Yeah?" He flicked his eyes over to him. 

"What's your opinion on theatre stuff?" Jeremy asked.

"Uh," he blinked. He had clearly not been expecting that. "It's fine, I guess. Why?"

"I thought. About, um, trying out for the play? As, like, something to do, you know? I heard that activities looked good on college applications," Jeremy rambled, trying to make his idea seem kind of rational. 

Michael hummed, "The play? I think you could be good at acting, to be honest."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You're already dramatic as fuck; I think that you could add some flair to the play."

"Shut up," Jeremy playfully pouted, turning away from him. "I don't even know why I try." He put a hand against his forehead, sending Michael a sorrowful look. 

Which immediately melted into laughter as they made eye contact. Through chuckles, Michael said, "You actually just proved my point." Jeremy stuck his tongue out at him and leaned back in his seat. 

"I do think that you could rock the play." When Jeremy looked back at Michael, the other added, "Just saying."

"Thanks, Michael." He grinned, "If I make it, maybe you could do something with me? Like, isn't the tech crew a thing?"

Michael hummed, tapping his fingers against his steering wheel. They were almost to the school. "Maybe? It depends what there is to do."

Jeremy nodded and turned up the music a bit. He had delayed any conversation about the person in the trench coat, which was good. Just looking at that person had made Jeremy feel prickly and uncomfortable– like he got shocked from weak static electricity throughout his entire body. He didn't know if they had anything to do with his dreams and visions, but Jeremy didn't really want to find out. 

When they made it to the school, Jeremy walked to the sign-up sheet for the play. He quickly signed his name, reading the small print that said the informational meeting would be on Friday, which was two days away. He and Michael talked to each other in the time before study hall ended, and when the bell rang, they headed to their separate classes. 

Jeremy walked into the classroom, smiling to himself. He sat in his seat and looked up at the board. Even though he was in a better mood, he still probably wouldn't pay attention to the class. It was only the second week of school; they were mostly be just learning easy things and reviewing. He was looking down at his desk when someone hurried into the room and sat down in the desk next to him. He looked up at them and his eyes widened. It was the trench coat person from the mall. Now he'd really have to figure out why they were maybe in a vision of his. Fuck. 

Their eyes flicked over to him and they raised an eyebrow. Their skin was tinted a blue-gray and their eyes were too bright of a blue to look at directly. Their hair was immaculately slicked back and Jeremy was very intimidated. They seemed to be giving off an unwelcoming vibe and Jeremy started to open his mouth to say something. What was he going to say? Oh no, just don't say anything! Maybe they were like a dinosaur, and if he didn't move, they wouldn't see him?

Jeremy froze with his mouth half open, staring at the threatening person. They looked confused. Maybe it was working? When they opened their mouth so say something as well, the bell rang. They gave him a weird look and turned to the front. Jeremy slowly did the same, casting quick looks in their direction. The atmosphere around him seemed unpleasantly electric. 

Now he had something else to do besides ignore the teacher. Instead of creepily approaching the person, saying that he dreamed about them, he could creepily watch them, no doubt being a freak. Jeremy sighed. Instead of making the stranger uncomfortable, he just did the easier thing– he stared at a fixed point in the wall. There was a crack in wall. He wondered where it came from. The longer he stared at the crack, the calmer he felt. He felt as though his mind was pulled into the crack and his eyes may have slipped shut, because he saw the same number over and over. It was in different fonts and colors, but the '10' he saw seemed significant. All of a sudden, his eyes flashed open. 

He looked at the clock. There was only five minutes until class ended. He glanced around; no one was working. He dug through his bag and found his ugly journal. He turned the page from where he wrote his dream earlier that morning and wrote the number '10'. Now he had to try and figure out two visions, one of which was maybe sitting next to him. 

The bell rang and Jeremy shoved his stuff in his bag. Before he stood up, he felt a prickle on the back of his neck. Someone was watching him. He looked around quickly and saw the trench coat kid flick their eyes away from him. Jeremy frowned and stood up, leaving the class. He was going to stew over his visions for the rest of the day. 

Great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aight aight I'm trying to update both of my fics as often as I can so I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

**Author's Note:**

> Aight!!! This idea has been in my head for awhile so it's awesome to get this down! Hopefully I'll be able to update this frequently but we'll see. my tumblr is radlovejoy


End file.
